Story+2005-06-19+Rotterdam,+The+Netherlands

“Alright, for, uh, Father´s Day, two songs....good luck, papas (chuckles) uh....another ch, another chance to get it right, is that what you were saying last night, Dave? (chuckles)...kids give you another chance to get it right....”
 * 19.06.05 Rotterdam, The Netherlands, intro to “Long Time Comin´”**

“Thank you, thank you very much....uh....I didn´t write a lot of love songs when I was young, it was probably because – now that this is Father´s Day – probably because I was traumatised by my father who told me that all love songs were government propaganda....and they were meant to get you married and to, uh, pay taxes and, and, you know, nose to the grindstone so, uh, I, I, I laid off the love songs for about, uh, about 30 years or so and, uh....but my mother was the opposite, she was Italian and very romantic and she would have those romance novels with the guys that looked like Fabio on the cover (some people in the crowd laugh at the mention of Fabio) was Fabio popular here?....yes, sort of, I guess, right? (chuckles) so, uh, she would have all the beautiful 1950´s love songs so I wrote my love songs but I hid them....yes, here´s one of them, not, this one´s not that hidden, maybe the next one (chuckles)....”
 * 19.06.05 Rotterdam, The Netherlands, intro to “For You”**

“Thank you....and then I....then about, mmm, 15 years later I started to write some love songs but they were all spooky (chuckles)....”
 * 19.06.05 Rotterdam, The Netherlands, intro to “Two Faces”**

“Thanks, this is, uh, this is, uh, this is one of the hidden ones....”
 * 19.06.05 Rotterdam, The Netherlands, intro to “The River”**

“Thank you, thank you very much, yeah (some people yell “Bruce!”) huh?....yes (chuckles) I´m here (chuckles) uh, alright (some guy yells “Jungleland!”) now you´re dreaming on that one (chuckles) these are not those fingers (chuckles)....”
 * 19.06.05 Rotterdam, The Netherlands, intro to “Countin´ on a Miracle”**

“Thank you, I was, uh, I was brought up Catholic and, uh, I went to Catholic school and the whole nine yards and, uh, so Jesus is my defacto homeboy....and uh....I was, I wrote this song, I was writing, wrote a lot about mothers and sons on, on Devils& Dust and, uh, I wrote this song thinking, trying to think of Jesus as somebody´s, just as somebody´s boy and, uh....the whole idea that our children, they got their own destinies....and, uh, they don´t mind telling you about it (chuckles) so, uh, this is kind of a song about that, about the power of will and, uh, about how our choices are given meaning by the things we give up, sometimes the sweet things that we give up for other things, this is ´Jesus Was an Only Son´.... (....) at his mother´s feet....now, the first thing that strikes you....when your children arrive is how there´s nothing in this world you wouldn´t do to protect them and to keep them safe....it´s shocking, it´s a sudden and shocking feeling that....it´s a life sentence (chuckles)....Mother prays.... (....) shall pierce your dreams this night...so if our choices are given meaning by the things that we sacrifice for them....by the things that we give up....I always figured Jesus had to be thinking....that Galilee was pretty nice that time of year and that there was probably a little bar down there he could manage....Mary Magdalene could tend bar, they could´ve raised some kids and got to see the sun fall on their face and feel the breath in your lungs....and see the next day....and the next day....and the next day ....and the next day.....in the garden at Gethesemane....´´
 * 19.06.05 Rotterdam, The Netherlands, intro to “Jesus Was an Only Son”**

“Thank you....uh, (thanks the crowd in Dutch)(chuckles) I got that down (chuckles) this is a song, uh, I guess this is a song, we all carry the seeds of our destruction, kind of God´s joke, I suppose, don´t know if He wanted it that way but that´s the way He let it be (chuckles) and uh....this is called ´The Hitter´....”
 * 19.06.05 Rotterdam, The Netherlands, intro to “The Hitter”**

“(chuckles) I have, uh....how does, how does everyone decide that? (chuckles) sssh, sssh....that´s like (someone yells “Italians!”) the Italians do it, that´s what I figured (chuckles) it´s their fault....I have the most unusual and silent stagerush in the history of rock and roll (chuckles) yeah, I played ´The Hitter´ and they rushed the stage (chuckles) very strange (chuckles) uh....alright, hey, kids, sssh, I got a story to tell (chuckles)....this is a song I wrote, uh, as a sequel to ´Across the Border´ on the Tom Joad-record, it´s a song about a man who makes the same journey...(?) you guys with the flash cameras, if you can save them for one more song, you can flash away (?).... alright, well, this is a song, each year hundreds of people die trying to get across the southern border of the United States and they die in the mountains and deserts and the rivers, this was a song I wrote for them, this is a song called ´Matamoros Banks,´ uh ....the song´s a story told backwards, it starts with the body at the bottom of the river, the man crossing the desert standing on the banks of the Matamoros which is a town across from Brownsville, across the Rio Grande, ´Matamoros Banks´....”
 * 19.06.05 Rotterdam, The Netherlands, intro to “Matamoros Banks”**

“Thank you....thank you, I wanna thank everybody for coming to the show tonight, thank you so much....(chuckles) thank you, uh, all I can say is, is, is, uh, fantastisch, a terrific, great audience (chuckles)....and, uh, I appreciate being able to come out here and to play like this and you give me that big, quiet space that I get to come and play in (chuckles) I thank you, it´s, uh, very, uh, it moves me in the heart, thank you very much, this is for you....”
 * 19.06.05 Rotterdam, The Netherlands, intro to “The Promised Land”**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//